Project Quilting 17.4 Of Another Era

Well, I did not get the original quilt project finished, so on Saturday evening, I turned to Plan B, which was using some Debbie Mumm fabric from about 25 years ago. I'd recently used one of the three squares from the panel on the back of my Happy Christmas quilt. I had thought that the backup plan would be to make a table runner using these two with a star block in the centre. However, with limited time, I knew I'd have to do something even quicker, and suddenly I thought I could make a tea cosy! Heaven knows I'd made four mug cosies this week, so one more large one shouldn't be a problem.

A little less than two hours later, on Saturday evening, like 10 pm, I had it done. Incidentally, that teapot is circa 38 years old, and the table topper is made (in 2005) from the same fabric line that I was using in the Plan A quilt!

Thirteen Little Makes

As I mentioned in a previous post, July saw me doing more outdoor things and less sewing which is appropriate for a beautiful summer month. I did make quite a few smaller projects so here’s a roundup of them.

These four are the Strippy Pouch pattern formerly on Moda Bakeshop. After I made the navy and cream one for the florist and gift shop in town, I made a second one for my shop. The soft aqua one has a beach vibe and I even photographed it at Seacliff Beach. 😎 The other two are made with Pat Sloan’s Bird Song fabric. Those have been fairly popular; think I’ve sold three or four. 

PQ 13.2 Silhouette Tea Cosy

My second project for Project Quilting 13.2 Silhouette, got done in the nick of time. This is a popular and fun challenge dreamed up by Kim at Persimon Dreams.

In my family we all love our tea, a legacy from my mum. Tea made in a pot is the best tea, of course. Making it in a mug is rather gauche, she would feel. Every pot needs a tea cosy to keep it warm longer. Yes it really does help. After my mum passed away, Dayna wanted my mum's beloved teapot, and mainly due to Covid closing the border for so long to non-essential travel, and making it difficult since it has been open, she still has yet to get said teapot. Well, now she will have a tea cosy to put on it!

Surprise! A New Tea Cosy That Fits!

Last year my daughter Brianne had an idea for me to make to sell in my Etsy shop, SandraJaneQuilts: tea cosies with funny 'tea' sayings, as in, "I've got tea!" and "Spill the tea!" The double-entendre is on 'tea', which is modern slang for juicy gossip. I made three. One I sent to her, and two got listed. One sold. And the one I sent to Brianne?

Didn't fit.

Gack! The tea cosy I made I based on one I've had for decades that fits both my teapots, which are, apparently, not as wide as Brianne's.

I had planned to make her a new one, but, as they say the best-laid plans...

Wednesday Works in Progress

Because I don't like posts that are, 'Here is my finished quilt, here's the back, here's a close-up, the end', kind of posts, I thought I should give you a peek into what I've been up to up here in my sewing space. I do tend to post progress photos on Instagram, so you might have already seen some of those that follow.

Note: I did not mean to offend anyone with that opening statement; I simply love people's processes, and seeing how a quilt evolves. I also like to keep a record of what's going through my brain as I create!

First and foremost we have had full-on winter for the past couple of weeks. I know because here is the current state of my temperature quilt:

You can see that the last time we had above 0℃ (freezing) was the highs of February 2 to 4, and the overnight low on Feb. 5. It dropped throughout that day and we haven't seen chartreuse temps since. In fact, last night was the coldest (-16℃) we've seen in more than a year, possibly two.  (Yes, I looked back on accuweather.com). But that low temperature meant I needed to use a new colour! Kona Turquoise. Thank goodness it is only one night and then we are back to -10 to -13 until the weekend when it finally smartens up to where we normally are.

Mug Cosies Pattern

There was quite the love on my previous post showing the little mug cosies I made. In the time of the Yeti, they may not be as necessary, but at Christmastime when lots of us like to use our Christmas mugs, they certainly do come in handy. I've been really impressed with how well mine has worked, whether it be over a morning cup of coffee or afternoon tea.

I made a couple more on the weekend, and wrote out what I did.

These have been sent off as little gifts to a couple of special people.

Mug Cosies!

A few weeks ago I had the brilliant idea to make Brady a mini tea cosy to put over his cup of tea. He has loved tea since he was oh about 3, maybe younger, but that's no surprise since his mum, his nana and his nanny (my mum) all love tea. When the "I've got Major Tea" tea cosy arrived at Brianne's house this week, apparently he was quite devastated that Nana hadn't put anything in the padded envelope for him. So I knew I had to get his mug cosy done pronto and send it off to him with nothing else in the padded envelope!

There are two, because I had to make a prototype which will be for me!

I've Got Major Tea

 After the intense sewing I did to get The Final Season done for the Island Batik blog hop, I needed something totally relaxing and satisfying. I had the front done for this second design of a tea cosy a few weeks ago. It got set aside for The Final Season. I had it finished in a couple of hours!

A typical afternoon tea break at my house!

My OMG for November was to finish two more tea cosies for my Etsy shop. I'm happy to report that I accomplished my goal.

Spill the tea! and OMG

When I was teaching, I was right on top of pop culture thanks to my students. Nowadays, my daughters and grandson keep me informed, along with social media, music, and TV to some extent. It was on Molli Sparkles' blog where I first heard the expression 'truth tea' several years ago. Then my daughter Brianne was using the expression, 'I've got tea' to mean I've got some juicy news/gossip, and 'Spill the tea' which means, tell me all. She it was who asked me to make her a tea cosy. Remember this is my non-quilting-loving daughter. Over the past year or so, she has been requesting quilts-(but not quilty, mind you) related items, or giving me suggestions for Etsy shop items. With the Alberta frigid temperatures of a week ago (and today they're balmy out there; welcome to life on the prairies) she was drinking more tea. Instead of making it in a cup, she was using her teapot, and requested a cosy to keep the tea warm. She had the idea to put these tea sayings on it and sell some in my shop. So of course, instead of continuing, wait, going back to, working on my magazine quilt (remember Pumpkin Season interrupted it) I chased this very tempting squirrel over this past weekend. And caught it.